Cultural Influence on Behavior
Every individual is born and raised into a culture. From the environment the individuals grow up in, they inherit and learn how to behave, what to consider "normal" or acceptable, obligatory and traditional. No matter what values a culture or society accepts, all the members of this society are raised with these range of values. However, there are several factors why people do what they do. These factors are sometimes logical and have a functional explanation, while other times they are driven by superstition. This will be shown on several examples.
Ethnocentrism and Cultural Attitudes
Everyone is formed as a person with an ethnocentric view of others whose customs, traditions and values different from their own. Ethnocentrism is a widespread characteristic of every member of a society, which governs the ways people see others. What is normal in one culture, does not necessarily need to be adequate or accepted in other. Ethnocentrism shapes some severe attitudes towards others, which might result in a feeling of superiority towards others, expressed through prejudice or stereotyping, discrimination, xenophobia or conflicts, for example. However, it does not have to be related only the or concern other everyday parts of lives.
Food Taboos as a Cultural Phenomenon
One of the purest examples of how a culture unconsciously affects each part of human lives is the food. We eat what we eat, and that is a regular thing. People do not usually think of the food as a taboo theme. However, while looking at other cultures, it can easily be seen that not everyone shares the same ideas of what is edible and appropriate to be eaten.
Food Taboos and Cultural Diversity
Interestingly, food taboo is present only in humans, other animals lack this characteristic, although in some cases it can be observed that a dominant individual forces weaker members to eat certain unusual foods. Therefore, food taboo is ultimately a cultural phenomenon. Several theories and approaches explained a diversity of food taboos in different cultures. Those are theories regarding food taboos as being formed from practical and religious reasons, but food restrictions in different cultures can also be explained from a functionalist view – avoiding specific food resources for health purposes (Meyer-Rochow, 2009).
Examples of Food Taboos
Throughout history and the world, there have been many food taboos, and they survive until the present days as well. For example, present-day Western culture sees eating dogs as repulsive and inappropriate. To a member of the Western civilization, it seems like something that there is no reason disputing about, dogs have never been food. Therefore, even a thought of eating a dog generates a repulsive feeling of disgust. Dogs are seen as pets, and people develop a different kind of relationship with them, then with, say, pigs, who are kept only as a food resource. On the other hand, eating dog meat has been a common practice in many Asian countries for centuries now. Nowadays, there is an indirect pressure of Western culture on Asian countries to stop consuming dog meat, for the sake of tourism, and a direct one as well, in the form of animal rights movements (Oh & Jackson, 2011). However, the reason behind the custom of not eating dog meat in Western culture is seen in the empathy that humans feel towards a specific animal.
Cannibalism as a Cultural Ritual
One of the food taboos that nowadays is seen as brutal and very repulsive in most parts of the world, is cannibalism. Cannibalism has been present in human societies for thousands of years. It has been recorded in every corner of the world, no matter how odd that might sound to an ordinary person of the 21st century. Cannibalism is present nowadays as well, especially in war zone countries such as Liberia, for example (Thomas, 2017). There, it is performed by soldiers and often ordered by the war and spiritual leaders, mostly during the times of war and periods of anarchy and instability. The parts of the body that are on the usual "menu" of these people are human genitalia and hearts. By eating these body parts precisely, they believe that productive and life forces would transmit to them (Duyvesteyn, 2005). In this example, it can be seen how eating, and things considered as food, reflect certain social and cultural rituals. In this case, eating human flesh is incorporated into a ceremony and gains a magical connotation. Eating human meat is not part of everyday culinary practice, it is preferably an occasional ritual, where a class of society is involved in magic or spiritual ceremony, after which they should gain more power. Also, on this example it can be seen that cannibalism in this society is not allowed to everyone. It is specifically performed by the soldiers, and ordered by the leaders, which adds to the importance and mysticism of the ritual. So, on this example, we see a specific taboo of food as being a part of a belief system, incorporated in magical and spiritual aspect.
Functional Basis for Islamic Food Taboos
It is commonly known that the Islamic religion prohibits the consumption of a range of food and drinks. Food taboos in Islam are indeed of religious origin. Some animals are "dirty," and therefore seen as a threat to human health, and ethical norms strictly prohibit their consumption. Even if it seems evident that Islamic food taboos seem as a religiously drawn taboo, there is a more solid basis for these taboos than religious beliefs themselves. Namely, eating pork in the Islamic world is strictly prohibited. Pigs are seen as dirty and filthy animals by nature. Indeed, pigs (and especially in times without a rigorous veterinarian inspection) carried a range of parasites that caused diseases in humans. Scientists have also determined the relation between pork eating and a variety of diseases and health conditions such as high blood pressure, arthritis, asthma, boils, eczema, rheumatism, among others (Meyer-Roschow, 2009). So, on this example, even an apparent religiously imposed food taboo has a functional background – it prohibits substances and ingredients that might cause complications in health and prevent diseases. This is an example of a functionally managed food taboo.
Varied Reasons for Food Taboos
In these examples, it can be seen how there are multiple reasons behind the food taboos. In some cases, more than one thing influences the developing of a food taboo. That is the case in Islam - by putting food taboos behind the religious laws, Islamic society prevents some potential diseases of its members. Cannibalism, on the other hand, is solely seen as a magical, belief drawn ritual, whose role is to show the power over others. The third case is food taboo that results from selective empathy – a society chooses which kinds of animals are appropriate as pets, and which as food. In all these examples we see the reasons behind food taboos. And these reasons come out of the cultural norms, whether they come from the religious, superstitious or humane reasons. All these cultures have a different background and have developed on a diverse set of values. Therefore, there are so many different food taboos (among other things), which members of different cultures can sometimes observe and understand, but most usually, cannot accept.
References
Duyvesteyn, I. (2005). Clausewitz and African War, politics and strategy in Liberia and Somalia. Frank Cass, London, New York. Retrieved from: https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/file%20uploads%20/isabelle_duyvesteyn_clausewitz_and_african_war_book4you.pdf.
Meyer-Rochow, V. B. (2009). Food taboos: their origins and purposes. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 5 (1). Retrieved from https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1746-4269-5-18.
Oh, M., & Jackson, J. (2011). Animal rights vs. cultural rights: Exploring the dog meat debate in South Korea from a world polity perspective. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32:1, 31-56. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263304065_Animal_Rights_vs_Cultural_Rights_Exploring_the_Dog_Meat_Debate_in_South_Korea_from_a_World_Polity_Perspective.
Thomas, B. (2017). Eating People is Wrong – But It's Also Widespread and Sacred Sapiens. Retrieved from https://www.sapiens.org/body/cannibalism-ritualized-sacred/.
